


How to Train Your Trainer

by PyrothTenka



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Also everything is all Charmander's fault, Charmander is utterly adorable, Gen, no seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 01:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15984239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PyrothTenka/pseuds/PyrothTenka
Summary: When Charmander finally finds the Jirachi he’s been searching for to grant his wish for the perfect trainer, this is not exactly what anyone had expected...





	1. All Wishes are Final - No Substitutions, Exchanges or Refunds

**Author's Note:**

> I am so so sorry. I started another story. Please forgive me. The adorable Charmander would not leave me alone!
> 
> This is what happens when I’m completely and utterly obsessed with Pokemon but can find like zero good Pokemon stories. Keep in mind, I hate powerful! or harem stories. And that’s like... 99% of all Pokemon stories.
> 
> My all time favorite Pokemon story on this site, besides this one, is ‘Fishing for Trouble’. That I also wrote.
> 
> If you guys have any recommendations, I will gladly accept them. Until then I will have to be content with only the stories in my head. D: And try to share some of that with you. Please enjoy!
> 
> Super Awesome Betas: Infamous Storm, To Mockingbird, GwendolynStacy, Igornerd, Monster Cat Music Girl, Sage Thrasher, Duesal Bladesinger, Serrith and my RL friend, Jerenda.

Today was the day. 

After three years of searching, and another four months of waiting, Charmander was  _ finally  _ going to get his wish. He was practically vibrating with excitement as he traversed the narrow crack in the mountainside towards his goal. It was a good thing he hadn’t evolved in his four and a half years of life, or he’d never have been able to fit. Who knew being the runt of the litter would have proved to be so useful?

He exhaled and sucked in his round belly in order to wriggle through the last tight pinch, spilling out into the small cavern. The flame on his tail cast a warm orange glow over the ancient rock face and lit up the crystal embedded in it. Barely visible through the translucent surface, was a blur of blue and yellow.

Jirachi. The wish-granting star pokemon. 

And tonight was the first night of the once-per-millennium meteor shower that would awaken it.

The orange reptilian pokemon lowered himself down to wait until nightfall. In just a few hours he would get his wish. The only thing he had ever wanted in his entire short life. The only thing any pokemon born at a breeding center ever wanted, really. To be adopted by a trainer and go on adventure. That was what he had been bred for.

Except Charmander had been born smaller than the rest and the breeders had been half convinced he wouldn’t survive past infancy. He’d certainly never be able to battle competitively. Which was why Charmander had watched while all his siblings were shipped off to labs to be given to new trainers and start their journeys. He’d been forced to stay behind.

But that was okay. Charmander didn’t want just  _ any _ trainer, no, he was going to have  _ the best _ trainer. The  _ perfect _ trainer. Together they were going to rule the pokemon world! 

And ever since he’d heard of the legendary wish-granting pokemon, Jirachi, he’d known exactly how he was going to do it. Three and a half years later, he would finally have his perfect trainer.

Charmander didn't know how long he waited there, hours at least, but he stayed firm in his resolve as he stared down the crystal. Jirachi was going to wake up, and Charmander was going to get his wish. He’d even brought along something to barter with. This was going to work. It had to.

The first change happened when Charmander’s tail flame was no longer the only light source in the cave. He hopped to his feet when the rock face in front of him began glowing a soft blue and he brushed a claw over its surface in anticipation. Any moment now-

All at once the blue light went out. For a split second panic threatened to overwhelm him before the light burst into existence again. It was behind him this time, and Charmander whirled around to stare at the living legend that was now occupying the center of the cavern. 

Three golden points shaped like the top of a star framed its face as Jirachi took a moment to stretch. Each point held a strange blue tag-like object, and twin yellow tails floated lazily in the cave’s non-existent breeze. Its tiny white body had a large horizontal indent that Charmander guessed held its third eye. 

All at once, Jirachi’s eyes snapped open and it let out a loud cheer.  _ “Haha! I have awakened! Finally I can continue the search! This shall be the cycle I find my- AAAH!” _

Jirachi’s excited gestures had finally turned him (the voice was definitely male) enough to spot Charmander, interrupting his monologue with a startled yelp. An invisible force slammed into the small lizard, sending him staggering back into the crystal formation behind him. Charmander made a mental note to not startle powerful psychic pokemon in the future. That had hurt.

_ “Oh! My apologies, little one, you startled me.”  _ There was a warm glow around him and Charmander was lifted to his feet, and his injuries healed all in an instant. He marvelled at newly unmarred scales, the great Jiraichi was proving to be just as powerful as he’d been told!

_ “There you go, good as new. Now, I must leave! I have a female to find and only seven days to find her before I sleep again. Farewell, my young friend!”  _

Charmander’s eyes widened in alarm as he hurried to lunge forward and latch onto the other pokemon.  _ “W-wait! Please!” _

_ “What is it?!”  _ the star pokemon snapped in mild irritation as he shook out of the other pokemon’s grasp.  _ “What part of ‘only seven days’ did you not understand? I’m in a bit of a hurry, in case you hadn’t noticed!” _

_ “I can help with that! At least, I’m pretty sure it will work. I don’t think they had this medicine a thousand years ago...” _ Charmander trailed off as a bout of uncertainty hit him. 

He was forced to shake it off however when he suddenly had a face full of legendary and the intense and undivided attention that came with it.  _ “Medicine?! What medicine?” _

The small lizard took a deep breath and told him.  _ “It’s a medicine that wakes up sleeping pokemon and keeps them awake for a few hours. More if they keep taking it. I... can get you some. But... but you have to grant me my wish!” _ There. He’d said it. Now to pray the great legendary wou-

_ “Agreed. Give me this medicine!” _

_ “Wha- really? Just like that?”  _ Charmander squeaked in incredulity. That... had been surprisingly easy. Jirachi hadn’t even hesitated!

_ “Yes. Really. If this medicine works as you say, even if it buys me only a single extra night, it will be worth it. Besides, these wishes are useless to me and you’re the only one who’s ever offered to bargain for one. Usually there’s a whole lot more ambushing and capturing and demanding involved. Though, I do reserve the right to deny the wish in case of any world ending peril it might cause. No sense in being awake an extra day if there’s no world to spend it in.” _

Jirachi spun away from the fire pokemon so he could find a good patch of air to sit on.  _ “Now. The bargain has been struck. Where is this medicine and what is your wish? I will peer into the future to verify both the authenticity of this miracle elixir you have described as well as the ramifications of your wish. If both are acceptable then you’ve got yourself a wish, Kid.” _

Charmander could hardly believe it! But he could waste no precious moments convincing himself, Jirachi clearly valued time more than anything else. He quickly scampered over to the crack in the wall he had come through, reaching through to grab the strap of a satchel he’d left just out of sight. He’d found it abandoned a few months back in a forest. A known nesting ground of Jigglypuff, though he’d been sure to visit it  _ after _ nesting season. He suspected a trainer had wandered too close, fallen asleep, and then simply forgotten their bag after waking up. Hopefully. Charmander tried not to think of other grisly alternatives that may have befallen a helpless human in a wilderness full of wild and dangerous pokemon.

This trainer had obviously known about the Jigglypuff in the area because inside was a bundle of a  _ dozen _ Awakening potions. That was what the small lizard dug out to present to his legendary companion.  _ “And my wish is to have the perfect trainer. One that will help me realize my full potential so that together we can be the best team ever!” _

_ “Train-er?”  _ Jirachi asked, confused.  _ “Like... that thing... where humans round up a herd of pokemon and tried to get them to do tricks? Why on Earth would you want that?! Is that still around a thousand years later?” _

_ “No! Not ‘tricks’! Human trainers train us to fight. To be strong and grow! I want to be a Charizard one day, to be big and scary and have no one pick on me ever again. Pokemon trained by a human are the strongest, and that’s what I want to be. The strongest.” _

Jirachi hummed thoughtfully.  _ “I still don’t get it. Why not just wish to be the strongest then?” _

Charmander paused. He hadn’t really considered that. Surprisingly though, the thought didn’t appeal to him.  _ “I... I’m not sure. I think it’s because it’ll be lonely by myself? And because it feels a little like cheating that way. No, I still want my perfect trainer. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. Is that okay?” _

_ “Well, at least you know what you want. Probably better this way anyway since being ‘the strongest’ is far more likely to end in a world ending disaster,”  _ the legendary mused before shifting his interest toward the bundled package of blue spray bottles. _ “This is the medicine?” _

Charmander nodded in confirmation.

_ “Alright, time to do some wish divination.”  _ Jirachi folded his legs under him and closed his eyes. A moment later the third eye on his stomach cracked open just a sliver. Through the lids, Charmander couldn’t see much besides a faint silver glow. _ “This only works with wishes, by the way, otherwise I’d have used it to— Oh. Well. That didn’t take long.” _ Jirachi’s third eye snapped shut and he went back to floating lazily slightly above and in front of the other pokemon.

_ “What? What didn’t take long?” _ The fire lizard hopped impatiently from one foot to another. Surely seeing the future took longer than that...?

_ “We’re all set. The medicine will buy me  _ two _ whole extra days! Oh, and your wish is fine too. Next I give you one of these—”  _ he paused to telekinetically float one of the paper tags down from his crown to within arm’s reach of Charmander. _ “— and you just speak your wish out loud and press a claw onto its surface.” _

Charmander gingerly plucked the parchment from the psychic grasp and regarded it with near reverence. This was it! He was  _ finally _ going to get to meet his trainer! He was just about to follow through with the instructions before pausing to reconsider their location.  _ “Uhm. We should probably move outside. There’s not enough room in here for a human.” _

Jirachi shrugged.  _ “Yeah, you’re probably right. Here, I’ll take us somewhere safe. At least, it  _ was _ safe about a thousand years ago. Definitely space enough for a human, anyway.” _

The fire lizard didn’t even have enough time to agree before a soft white light infused them both and they were suddenly somewhere else. Harsh sunlight forced him to shield his eyes while they adjusted. When he opened them again, it was to the sight of lush forest. 

_ “Huh. This was a field of flowers last I checked. Eh, safe enough. Go ahead and speak your wish.” _ Jirachi floated over to perch on a half-rotted log, leaving the other pokemon to stare at the wish tag uncertainly.

Charmander took a deep breath and nodded decisively.  _ “Okay. I wish for my perfect trainer; someone who can train me to be the best I can be and, together, we’ll be able to reach greatness.” _ He then placed the tag on the ground and pressed a palm to its surface.

The tag flickered briefly, and when he let go of it, an imprint of his claw was left behind.  _ “Okay, now what?”  _ he asked, glancing over at the star pokemon.

Jirachi pushed off of the log to come over and scoop up the little slip of paper.  _ “Now you get ready for a light show.” _

Without any further preamble, the legendary pressed the wish back into place on his crown. Instantly he was infused with a white glow and a bright pillar of light consumed him and his immediate surroundings. Charmander was forced to shield his eyes again and retreat a few steps.

It only lasted a moment, leaving dark spots in the fire lizard’s vision before clearing to reveal a somewhat drained-looking Jirachi and a suspiciously human-shaped lump on the ground beneath him.

Charmander did not even remember crossing the distance to get to her.

Vaguely he remembered he’d always subconsciously thought of his perfect trainer as a boy-human, but discarded that idea as irrelevant. It didn’t matter. His perfect trainer was  _ here _ and she was  _ perfect _ . She was also unconscious, much to his disappointment, but that was fine too. It gave him a chance to process her presence.

She had long dark human-hair, and two long short-furred human-arms attached to five-fingered human-hands. She even had all the gear of a trainer already on her person! A belt with six pokeballs. A backpack probably filled with all sorts of human stuff, probably for training. Her human-clothes even looked like the kind a trainer would wear.

In short, she was everything Charmander had imagined. And more since she was  _ real _ !

_ “So, is this what you wanted?” _ Jirachi asked.

_ “Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” _ The fire lizard hopped excitedly from foot to foot.  _ “Thank you!” _

_ “Good. Then I’m heading out. I’ve got a whole lot of searching to cover and only nine days to do it. Ha! Thanks for the upgrade from seven, kid. This is going to be the cycle I find her, I just know it!” _

The star pokemon was already starting to float away when Charmander waved to him.  _ “Okay! Good luck, Jirachi! Thanks again!” _

The legendary was out of sight moments later and Charmander returned his attention to the human laying beside him. Hopefully she’d wake up soon. He couldn’t wait to meet her! In the meantime, he  settled himself down next to her to wait. Soon, very soon, Charmander would have everything he’d ever wanted.

He hadn’t counted on how much screaming that would entail.


	2. Waking Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super Awesome Betas: Infamous Storm, To Mockingbird, GwendolynStacy, Igornerd, Monster Cat Music Girl, Sage Thrasher, Duesal Bladesinger, Serrith and Jerenda.

Elmyra ‘Mira’ Jane Carter had always considered herself a level headed girl. She had always believed panicking was the absolute worst possible thing you could do in a crisis, and lived by it. If a fire alarm went off and smoke began filling a room, she was the one to begin barking out orders to help everyone evacuate safely. 

One time on a trip to New York City she’d been mugged. It was her calm and collected brain that helped her get close to the knife-wielding man so she could mace him in the face. A swift kick between his legs and he was down while she called the police.

Mira did not do ‘freaking out’.

Until the night she went to sleep in her own bed at home and woke up the next morning in a strange forest, wearing strange clothing and surrounded by strange trees she’d  _ never _ seen before in her life. Then she saw the giant flaming dinosaur curled up next to her and promptly lost any vestiges of composure she’d managed to salvage up until that point.

In hindsight, screaming at the top of her lungs while trying to scrabble away from the sleeping fire-monster had been a terrible plan. The creature jolted awake with a startled yelp, but Mira was long gone by then. She’d found the nearest tree and climbed it before she could even register the slivers and harsh scrapes covering her hands from the rough bark. She prayed to whatever deity that would listen that it couldn’t climb up after her. Dinosaurs couldn’t climb trees, right? 

Not that that would help much if it decided to set the wood on fire with its flaming tail. What was one supposed to do when you were chased up a tree by a flaming lizard? Was there a correct procedure for this sort of thing?!

Slowly she could feel her wits begin to return to her and she began to take stock of her situation. Tree. Fire-dino. Strange new location with strange new clothes. Also a fire-dino. “What even  _ is _ that thing?!”

_ *Ping!* _ “ **Charmander, the fire lizard pokemon. The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. The flame flickers when Charmander is enjoying itself. If the pokemon becomes enraged, the flame burns fiercely.** ”

“What. Was.  _ That _ .” Mira craned her neck around to find the source of the strange robotic voice. Somewhere near her it seemed because it was quick to reply.

_ *Ping!*  _ “ **Welcome to your new Pokedex version 12.8.42. Would you like to run the setup wizard?** ”

“Setup—? No! I just want to go home!” Mira shouted, an edge of histeria to her voice. 

_ *Ping!*  _ “ **‘Going Home’ is set as the current ‘End Game Reward’. In order to unlock that reward you must beat the game by becoming ‘The Ultimate Pokemon Master’. Would you like to list the title requirements?** ”

“No! I want you to tell me how to get away from the creepy fire-monster trying to climb up my tree!”

Said fire-monster stopped its attempts to reach her perch and settled down to stare up at her instead. It let out a mournful whine that sounded something like, “Chaaaar...?”

This time when the machine went  _ *Ping* _ , it almost sounded hesitant. Like it was questioning her sanity. “ **To get your pokemon to obey, you must first give it an order. For example: ‘Charmander, stay.’ Or: ‘Charmander, Down.’** ”

“What.” Mira had finally located the source of the mysterious voice, a bright red little pocket book that flipped open to reveal a screen and a confusing assortment of buttons. Even while examining it, she still glanced down every few minutes to confirm the little fiery nightmare lizard hadn’t moved from its spot. It seemed content with sitting still for now, but Mira wouldn’t be fooled into complacency. She saw those sharp teeth; that creature was clearly a carnivore! 

_ *Ping* _ “ **Error: Question lacks context. Would you like to run the setup wizard?** ”

“No! Are you telling me that that...  _ thing _ will back down and stay put just because I  _ tell it to _ ?!”

_ *Ping* _ “ **Most pokemon will obey their trainer’s orders. Charmanders are known for their fierce loyalty and are more likely than most to accept even a novice trainer’s commands.** ”

“There’s a small problem with that, you dumb machine.  _ I am not a trainer! _ ”

_ *Ping* _ “ **Elmyra Jane Carter. Occupation: Pokemon Trainer.** **Trainer ID: 382530866** **. Currently registered team: Charmander. Current Address: Unknown. Current contact number: Unknown. Registered Home City: Pallet Town.** ”

“... You have got to be kidding me.” 

She stared numbly at the red device’s screen. It showed an image of an ID of somesort that had her picture on it and all that information it’d just quoted displayed. How did this thing know her name?! Also, Pallet Town? She’d never even heard of such a place!

_ *Ping* _ “ **Pokedexes are incapable of ‘kidding’.** ”

“Oh, shut up. That was rhetorical,” she growled at it. Her gaze drifted uncertainly from the image on the screen, down to the hopeful and expectant looking (and boy was it weird to see  _ emotion _ on a reptilian face like that!) dinosaur, then to her tree. 

Okay. According to the robot voice, she was something called a ‘pokemon trainer’ and the creature below was a ‘pokemon’. Specifically a ‘charmander’ or whatever. Theoretically she was supposed to be able to give it orders. In spite of the world not really working like that and that trained animals were supposed to have, you know, actual  _ training _ before they could obey their trainers. Mira would have remembered training a big fiery lizard, so she wasn’t confident of her chances.

Still, she  _ was _ stuck in a tree, currently, and said fiery lizard showed no signs of losing interest in her anytime soon. The idea did have some merit. 

“Okay,” she called down and grimaced when the creature visibly perked at her voice, even going so far as to tilt its head at her consideringly. A distinct sign of listening if she’d ever seen one. “... I’m going to come down now, and you are going to keep your distance, okay? Okay.”

Then she remembered what the pokedex said and added for good measure, “Charmander, down! Stay!”

She watched in utter disbelief as the giant flaming monster lizard nodded—  _ nodded! _ — and lowered itself to the ground as far as it could. It practically prostrated itself before glancing up at her imploringly.

“Uhm. Good... boy? Girl? Heck if I know. Good Charmander, I guess?” This was officially the weirdest thing Mira had ever done. It only topped itself when the dinosaur’s tail began thumping the ground cheerfully at the praise. 

Slowly, she began her descent, wincing as her scraped up hands came in contact with rough tree bark again. She made sure to glance over her shoulder at the creature periodically just to be sure it stayed where it was. It did, disturbingly enough, even though she could tell it was practically vibrating with excitement by the time she reached the ground.

She nearly scurried back up the tree again when it lifted its head to try and look at her. It slammed its head back down as soon as it noticed, though, and she was left with the sinking suspicion that this little fire monster was far more intelligent than any other animal she knew of.

Mira considered ordering it to stay and then escaping as fast as she could in a random direction, but quickly discarded that plan. If it was going to follow her, and her gut instinct told her it  _ definitely would _ , she wanted it where she could see it. Looked like she was stuck with a new scaley orange companion for the foreseeable future. Hopefully it continued in its behavior of not eating her, that would make things go infinitely smoother.

Now that the immediate danger had passed (supposedly), Mira could begin forming something of an actual plan on how to get home. The pokedex had said something about an ‘End Game’ goal, but that was a whole can of worms she wasn’t ready to open yet. Mostly she would settle for getting out of these woods for now. She could tackle everything else later.

Immediate needs first. Food, water, shelter and, if possible, civilization. With any luck, this strange backpack on her back, that she had never seen before in her life, possibly solved the first two of those problems. It was certainly heavy enough to give it a try.

She took a seat at the base of her tree, pulling the bag off and setting it between her legs. She was about to open it when the heavy gaze of soulful emerald green eyes distracted her. She couldn’t stop herself from looking up to meet them. 

... Maybe that laying down position she’d left the small dinosaur in  _ did _ look a  _ little _ uncomfortable. And it  _ had _ obeyed every order she’d given it perfectly. She was also not aware reptilian faces could look sad, but she would swear before a jury that that was exactly what its face looked like.

“Chaaaar...?”

She heaved a huge sigh. “Alright.  _ Fine. _ You can get up now. But... but you keep your distance, okay?”

The cheerful, “Charmander!” she got in response both warmed her heart and completely threw the logic center of her brain for a loop. What the heck kind of animal cry was ‘charmander’?! 

She was unable to process that thought, however, as she suddenly had a face full of excited reptile. Apparently she and it did not agree on the definition of ‘keeping your distance’. Much to its credit, it  _ did _ notice her complete freeze up and immediately stepped back, warbling its name again in a somewhat apologetic tone.

She took a few deep steadying breaths as she came down from that near heart attack before managing a reply. “Y-yeah, that’s more what I meant. You keep that distance, okay?”

“Char!” it agreed and nodded again.

She doubted she was going to get over the human expressions and gestures anytime soon. At least it made communicating with it easier?

That taken care of, she went back to her previous task of cataloguing her resources. She methodically emptied the contents of the backpack, setting each object out in front of her. There was much less in there than she had been expecting; most of the weight had been the six pack of water bottles sitting at the bottom. 

Aside from that, she had a box of what looked like protein bars, a coil of thin but strong looking rope, a small pocket of fabric that held a neatly folded waterproof poncho, a pair of heavy-duty gloves and two rectangular boxes.

She opened one box to find a small first aid kit and an assortment of odd little brightly colored spray bottles. They had labels that said stuff like ‘Hyper Potion’, ‘Antidote’ or ‘Burn Heal’. They were also clearly labeled ‘NOT FOR HUMAN USE’, which promptly dumped it all in the ‘useless’ category of her brain.

Except for the small first aid kit which held bandaids and antiseptic cream that she did take a moment to apply to her hands. She then covered them in gloves just in case she needed to climb another tree anytime soon.

The second box opened up to reveal a set of eight small orbs nestled into molded foam. They looked similar to the little spherical objects she’d found on her belt, but they lacked the black and bright yellow tops that those had. These were instead a polished silver. 

Utterly baffled as to their purpose, she set them aside to puzzle out later. For now she’d settle on one of the snack bars for a quick breakfast and a little water to wash it down. 

She then poked through the side pockets. One of them was full of more of those little black and yellow balls from her belt, and the other held, much to her delight, a map and compass!

Not that that helped much at the moment since she had absolutely no idea where she was on that map. Still, if she found some high ground, she might be able to find some landmarks to help her out. And, more importantly, there were  _ towns _ labeled on that map. Sure proof of civilization. 

She quickly repacked everything before getting to her feet. Charmander had not been idle while she had done her organizing. It had stalked out a small perimeter around her and the tree and seemed to growl at random shrubbery. At least, she hoped it was random. She really didn't want to find out what else could be hiding in these woods, one big fire lizard was quite enough for her taste.

As soon as she was on her feet, Charmander was at her side, and she paused to consider it.  “Can... can you understand everything I say?” she asked, hesitantly. 

She blinked in surprise when it nodded. That.... that implied (practically  _ proved _ , actually) sapience. Maybe the nodding had just been a coincidence? She had to be sure... “Would you hop on one foot three times and spin around in a circle once, please?”

For a brief moment she was relieved when all it did was tilt its head at her seemingly confused. But then it nodded and promptly followed her instructions to the letter. Mira stumbled over a tree root and fell flat on her rear when she attempted to scramble away from the impossibly sapient lizard.

She was no longer on Earth, that was now painfully clear. Not unless she was on some mad scientist’s experimental island where they were attempting to create intelligent creatures. The map combined with the way the pokedex had worded its answers made her think a different world entirely was far more likely.

Her chances of getting home on her own  were looking slimmer and slimmer.

“Chaaar?”

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft, mournful cry and she looked up to see the orange lizard watching her anxiously. It was curled up on itself slightly, like it was trying to make itself look as non-threatening as possible. The slight shifting of weight from one foot to the other also made her think it was restraining itself from approaching her.

She bit her lip and regarded the creature uncertainly. She couldn’t help but feel that her reaction had probably been rude, but really, how  _ was _ she supposed to act around a sapient dinosaur? Just like another person, maybe? It was a starting point at least, then she could figure it out from there. 

“Hey, you! Uh, Charmander, right?”

The fiery lizard perked up at being addressed, then nodded enthusiastically. Presumably in answer to her question. It lifted a foot to take a step forward but then seemed to rethink its action and stayed where it was.

Mira grimaced. That wouldn't do; they couldn't have a proper conversation from a distance. She hesitated briefly before raising a hand to gesture the creature forward.

"C'mon, you don't need to stay away. I, uh, probably shouldn't have freaked out like that, sorry," Mira apologized awkwardly.

The orange lizard gave a happy chirp, and then wasted no time closing the distance between them... and then promptly climbing right up into her lap and wrapping his tiny scaly arms as far they would go around her torso. 

Mira sat frozen stiffly in shock as the charmander hugged her. It got more weird when it let out a low purr-like trill as if telling her her apology was accepted.

... Was it normal for these things to be so affectionate? Mental note, Charmander liked physical contact. 

Slowly, she forced herself to relax enough to breathe, and then reach down to nudge her new companion gently off of her and onto the ground beside her. 

"Okay, okay, that's... nice...," Mira commented with an awkward cough. "But I need to be frank with you."

"Char?" Charmander queried, head tilted to the side in question.

"I... I'm not actually sure what I'm doing. I have no idea where I am, what you are or even remember how I got here. You may not want to follow me, you're probably better off without me honestly."

She'd barely finished speaking before the small dinosaur's eyes widened in surprise. It lunged forward to wrap itself insistently around her leg shaking its head in a vehemently negative response.

"Charmander, Char Char!"

Mira sighed inwardly. She really was stuck with it. Though, she  _ was _ coming around to the idea of having a native companion. 

"Alright then. We're in this together, I guess," Mira mused.

Charmander nodded emphatically and Mira allowed a small smile.

"The robot voice was right, you really are loyal. Alright then. We should start with introductions. I'm Elmyra Jane Carter, Mira for short. I don't think I come from this world, but I haven't confirmed that yet, and I'm completely lost."

She glanced over at the big fire lizard. It had taken a seat and was taking care to give her its utmost attention. "You can't... speak my language, can you?" Mira questioned.

Charmander shook its head negative, but still tried anyway. "Charmander," it said, and Mira got the idea that it was saying its name. Then it turned to regard her questioningly, as if asking what to do next.

"Heh, so... I just call you Charmander? Is that right?"

Charmander nodded again happily.

"Alright then. Nice to meet you, Charmander. Hmm.... how about I ask you some yes or no questions and you can just nod or shake you head, alright?"

"Char!" it chirped, nodding in agreement.

"Okay, first question. Are you a girl or a boy... er, are you a girl?" Mira asked, remembering at the last minute to turn it into a strictly yes or no question.

Charmander shook its — _ his—  _  head negative.

Mira nodded in comprehension. "Boy then. Okay. Question number two: Do you know where we are?"

He seemed to think it over for a moment before sheepishly shaking his head no. He paused, then held up a claw and made a motion that Mira could only interpret as a 'so-so' motion.

"So, you don't know  _ exactly _ where we are, but you might have a general idea?" she clarified.

That he nodded at.

"Alright, okay. I can work with this, I think." Mira stated, already forming a plan of action in her head. "If you can figure out about where we are, can you lead me to where more people are? I'm not exactly equipped to survive out in the wild. I'm lucky this pack has food and water in it."

Charmander paused again to think it over and gave a slow nod that got more definitive after a second or two.

"Great. That's... that's something at least," Mira commented, relieved. "That means we can start heading out."

She stood up and stretched her arms over her head, then set about stretching her legs. She was in a new place that had new creatures. Terrifying creatures that were on fire, apparently. She needed to stay limber and be prepared to run or, hopefully not, defend herself. Then she glanced down at her companion.

"Any idea where we should start?"

Cheerfully, Charmander hopped back to his feet and began examining the area around them. He sniffed deeply of the dirt and plant life, making a full circle around the human before stopping in front of her again and glancing up at the sky. Hesitantly, he glanced to their South (If the sun was the same indicator of direction here as it was in Mira's world) before shaking his head and point North-ish.

"Charmander, char mander char char," he said decisively.

"Alright. Sounds good, even though I have no idea what you just said. Better than me just picking a random direction, I suppose," Mira mused before beginning to walk.

Her new little friend wasted no time catching up to walk beside her.

Somehow, surprisingly, it felt... nice to have Charmander at her side. Yeah. Mira could make this work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: That's Mira, guys. she's from an an AU of our world where Pokemon (the entire brand) never existed. So this is all completely new to her. XD
> 
> Which means this is essentially a first contact story and first contact stories are my absolute favorite. Hopefully you all will enjoy it just as much.
> 
> Thank you for your time!  
> -Py

**Author's Note:**

> AN: And that's how it starts. Kidnapping a random human girl so Charmander can get his wish. Just remember, this all started because Charmander wished it to happen. This is all Charmander's fault. Got it? Okay, don't forget it. No matter how adorable Charmander is.
> 
> Next up: Who is this trainer? What has Charmander gotten himself into?


End file.
